Now that she’s left office, former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm plans to write a book, teach at Berkeley and stay in the public eye as a speaker and commentator.

The 51-year-old two-term Democrat told POLITICO in an interview that her new work will revolve around the interrelated themes she emphasized as governor: creating jobs, reviving American manufacturing and expanding the clean energy economy.

“I’m very much looking forward to this new chapter in what has been and will continue to be a very full life,” Granholm said.

Granholm and her husband, Dan Mulhern, are coauthoring a book about “the experience of governing what has been the toughest state in the country,” she said. It is set to be published in September by Public Affairs.

Granholm and Mulhern also have a joint two-year academic appointment at the University of California-Berkeley, Granholm’s undergraduate alma mater. Together, they will teach a course this coming spring semester at the university’s Goldman School of Public Policy. In the fall, they will teach separate courses in the public policy, law and business schools.

The common theme of the courses and book will be the lessons Michigan holds for the rest of the country as “the canary in the coal mine — the state hardest hit by the loss of traditional manufacturing jobs,” she said. “We want to be able to have the nation draw lessons, good and bad, about what can happen if the United States doesn’t take a more active role” in job creation.

In addition, Granholm and Mulhern have signed on with the Keppler Speakers Bureau to be represented for speaking engagements; they are fielding offers to serve on the boards of companies and nonprofits; and Granholm will be a paid contributor to NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Mulhern, the former “first gentleman,” is a radio host, inspirational speaker and leadership coach.

For Granholm, who grew up in California, the Berkeley appointment is a chance to spend more time with her parents, including an ailing father. Granholm and Mulhern plan to split their time between Michigan, California and Washington.

Since leaving the governor’s mansion, the family has been renting in the Lansing area while their son finishes middle school. Granholm said they’re working with a realtor to buy a permanent Michigan residence.

She was not approached for a job by the Obama administration, and does not plan to reenter politics. “I’m done with that,” she said. “I’m ready for a new thing.”

Granholm said the president has “taken some really good steps, but additional, aggressive steps need to be taken.” The investments in a new clean-energy infrastructure made by the 2009 stimulus should “be put on steroids,” she said.

Granholm’s popularity was low by the time she left office — one April 2010 poll put her approval rating at 27 percent. She defended her record as having made tough decisions and put in place the changes that will eventually see Michigan recover from its long slump.

Under Granholm, the state’s budget shrunk more than any other as declining revenues forced painful cuts. Now, she said, the beginnings of a turnaround can be seen: Michigan unemployment, which peaked at 14.5 percent in December 2009, was down to 11.7 percent in the latest December 2010 statistics.

“It’s not like things have been fixed,” Granholm said, but “our efforts in the past year and a half have really shown some remarkable progress.”

She praised her successor, Republican Rick Snyder, for his bipartisan outreach, noting that the two jointly announced the new board of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, with 10 appointees each. “He didn’t have to do that,” she said.

And she said she has no doubt Democrats will recover from their drubbing in the 2010 elections. “The president is obviously starting out well in 2011, with demonstrating that you can get stuff done at the end of last year and with the tone he set in Arizona,” she said. “Citizens need to see continual movement. Citizens are impatient for change, understandably. If he can demonstrate continual progress, 2012 will be a good year for Democrats.”